Day: July 31, 2018

Weston First XI’s match away at Midsomer Norton on Saturday was abandoned before the end of the first innings due to heavy rain.

Weston won the toss and, with rain forecast, elected to bowl first. The start of the match was delayed briefly by a shower shortly before the scheduled start time. This may have affected the way the pitch played, with the scoring rate from Midsomer Norton’s openers Lear and N Cox being slow. Last week’s Man of the Match, Alex Leeks (7-0-20-1), struck in the eighth over to remove Cox LBW for 14. Chris Davidson (6-0-25-2), coming on as the first change bowler, then removed Norton’s overseas player Gunathilaka for 13 and M Cox for 10 either side of a brief rain interruption. The introduction of the formidable Shabel Ahmed saw the fall of the fourth wicket with the score on 97.
Captain Pang then built a partnership of 54 with Lear, who batted steadily to bring up his 50 off 105 balls. Ahmed removed both batsmen, Pang for 40 off 40 balls courtesy of a catch in the deep from Ash Allen, and Lear LBW for 63, to finish with figures of 9-1-30-3. Three balls after Lear’s wicket fell and with the score on 174-6, the rain came down in earnest and play was suspended shortly after 3.30pm. After almost an hour of rain, the sun came out and play looked likely to be able to resume in a reduced format. However, another shower put paid to that idea and the match was officially abandoned shortly after 5pm.

This abandonment gives Weston 9 points to Norton’s 8 in the mid table clash. With availability being an issue again, there were some errors in the field by players making the step up from second team cricket, which gave away some boundaries and saw a potential catch go down, but Weston should be pleased on the whole with their bowling performance.
They will look to return to winning ways at home to top of the table Lansdown on Saturday.

2nd XI

Weston 2nd XI slipped further into relegation trouble with a chastening defeat at home to Long Sutton on Saturday.

The visitors won the toss and bowled, but Weston battled hard, reaching 60-2 at the first drinks break. This was a good platform, but it was wasted by the middle order, who all fell cheaply, as the home team subsided to just 117 all out.

In reply, a good opening spell by young Will Crane should have been rewarded by more than 1 wicket, and spinner Jodie Filer again bowled well, but Sutton knocked the runs off easily in the end to win by 8 wickets.

3rd XI

Weston 3rds got a crucial win in the relegation battle on Saturday, beating Hardington & West Coker at home by 187 runs and climbing out of the drop zone in the process.

With skipper Josh Knight stuck in traffic, deputy and brother Matt lost the toss and Weston were put into bat. Chris Pack and Martyn Chambers (22) put on 51 for the first wicket with some excellent shots before Chambers fell to P Eason. Captain J Knight and Pack set about pushing the total up for Weston with Knight quickly passing 50 and Pack not long behind. Pack batted brilliant for his maiden 3rd team 50, showing great composure and shot selection before he was eventually dismissed for 61. Knight and Pack also completed another milestone putting on 114 for the second wicket. Josh Knight was joined by brother Matt who quickly fell for 2 before Chris Fawcett (28) provided excellent support to J Knight in his first game for 8 years. Knight continued to punish the bowlers with excellent shot placement and scored a first ever hundred for Weston, eventually caught on the boundary for 112. The rest of the batsmen pushed the total up to 276-9 after 45 overs.

The bowling couldn’t have got off to a better start for Weston as Smith (9-1-31-1) removed Hardington captain Parrott for 2. Fellow opener Reddaway was then retired hurt due to an ankle injury which is hoped not to be too serious. The game then became the Jamie Dance show as he dismissed batsmen 3 to 7 with some outstanding swing bowling. Moving the ball both ways Dance never let the batsmen settle, 3 of his wickets were clean bowled. Hardington fell to 61-6 after Smith and Dance had bowled out it was the job of Bayley Frise (3-0-17-2) and returning Justin Turner (3-1-11-1) to clear up the tail. Hardington & West Coker all out for 89.

This was a brilliant performance for Weston showing real team spirit despite missing some regular players. Pack and J Knight were excellent with the bat and set the platform for the bowlers, but Man of the Match goes to Jamie Dance for a maiden 5fer, blowing away the opposition.

4th XI

Weston 4ths took their least experienced team ever away to league leaders Butleigh on Saturday and despite the almost inevitable defeat learnt much from the experience.

Batting first Weston made a creditable 152 for 7 with openers Tom Bailey 53 and Dave Howes 39 leading the way. Once this stand was broken wickets tumbled regularly and it was Georgina Goodwin with 23 not out who helped the score past the 150 mark.

With rain around, and more threatening, Butleigh were always going to attack from the start and so it proved with their opening pair running up a stand of over 140 in 11 overs. Olly Price took the only wicket to fall but Weston’s youngsters can feel proud of the way they stuck to their task.